Two sleeps to go before the Pols get a break.

In the second last meeting before the summer break (a whole three weeks) the Cobourg Council is not courting any controversy. A few normal heritage requests two planning applications to approve, a project manager to hire and a fire engine to dispose of. I hope that the powers that are took notice of the hooh-hah that ocurred in Trent Hills when they decided to dispose of their old truck a few months ago. They refused the results of a tender and then had to go back to the tenderer when subsequent marketing efforts failed. Cobourg has turned down a guaranteed $10,000 and will attempt to sell it on its own.

In Port Hope the agenda is packed. More discussion about the dreaded "flail mower" - you know the one that murders little trees and leaves a scarred landscape behind in its wake. But there is also a meatier item. The murder of prime farming land. A company called Sunbay has optioned the land for a "plasma-gasification" plant to incinerate recycling residue. This should be a controversial topic but it won't be because one man - Carroll Nichols, has made it his life's ambition to locate such a plant in this area. A long-time Wesleyville resident he has evangelically lobbied all governments for years for an incineration plant. He has finally made it, it's coming. However this field in this picture, one that many of us see fully planted year after year, is coming out of agricultural production to accommodate it.
There is a presentation from a group of landowners pleading with the Council to be allowed to exceed the growth levels outlined in the County Growth Study and build more homes in the greenfield, their presentation will be forwarded to the County consultants. And finally of mention is a report from Heritage Port Hope Advisory Committee about the centre pier (probably the building demolition idea) and it's being punted off to the Harbour Commission. With that body being mired in an open/shut meetings policy I guess the ideas that Heritage Port Hope have about the demolition of the buildings on the centre pier may never even see the light of day.

The only way to get rid of the robbers' roost is to burn the f***er down. A good story from a middle-class survivor on how the middle class will survive - unionise!